Computers typically execute one or more programs that control the overall operation of the computer, commonly referred to as an operating system. Once the operating system is installed, additional application software, commonly referred to as application programs, can be installed that allow the computer to carry out its intended functionality. However, as the power and functionality of computer hardware and software has increased, the amount of time involved in installing the operating system and application programs has also increased. Currently, installing the operating system as well as the application programs can take a significant amount of time. It is not uncommon for such installation processes to take on the order of one to two hours.
Installing the operating system and application programs on a computing device is a task typically performed by a user. During the installation process, an installation program runs to install the operating system or application program. The installation program frequently asks numerous questions that the user must answer regarding the configuration of the computer, operating system, and/or application programs. These questions are typically answered by the user and thus require the user to be present during the installation process. This tends to be tedious on the part of the user, and also introduces the possibility of mistakes being made by the user during the installation process (e.g., incorrect answers being given to the installation program).
In some situations, cloning methods can be used to duplicate a computer disk drive that has an operating system and application programs already installed. This duplicate can then be copied to the disk drives of additional computers, thereby setting up the additional computers identically to the original computer. However, there are also problems with cloning methods because they do not easily account for minor changes in hardware between the computers, and any customization of the computer after the duplicate has been copied to it (e.g., in order to change its network address or other security information) must be performed manually at the computer.
In other situations, an unattended install method can be used to allow a user to generate an answer file and make the answer file available to the installation program. Thus, by “pre-answering” the installation questions the user need not be present to answer all of the questions as they are posed by the installation program. However, the user still needs to know what all the questions are and has to add the answers to the answer file for each computer on which the unattended install is to be performed. As minor changes in hardware between the computers can result in different questions by the installation program and thus different answers in the answer file, the user often times must manually alter the answer file to accommodate each specific computer on which the unattended install is to be performed.
The automated system setup described herein solves these and other problems.